Community View: Suicide by guns: an ignored issue

8:13 PM,
Feb. 17, 2013

Handguns on display at the table of David Petronis of Mechanicville, N.Y., right, who owns a gun store there, during the annual New York State Arms Collectors Association Albany Gun Show at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, on Jan. 26. Suicide by guns has surpassed auto accidents as the leading cause of injury-related death in the U.S., and suicide by gun is the fastest-growing method.

Written by

Bennett L. Gershman

The gun lobby and its supporters ritually chant: "Guns Don't Kill People; People Kill People." Yes, people do kill people, especially themselves. And they kill themselves mostly with guns.

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. and the third-leading cause of death among people 15-24 years old. A suicide happens every 14 minutes. Of the 38,000 suicides last year, more than half were inflicted by guns, more than double the 9,000 homicides by gunfire. Indeed, there were more suicides with guns last year than all other suicide methods combined.